Key TakeawaysRates of STIs in the U.S. have reached record numbers for the sixth year in a row.Experts say this increase may be due to a lack of sexual education and existing disparities.The U.S. government has launched a Sexually Transmitted Infections National Strategic Plan for the United States, to enhance and expand STI prevention and care programs.

Key Takeaways

Rates of STIs in the U.S. have reached record numbers for the sixth year in a row.Experts say this increase may be due to a lack of sexual education and existing disparities.The U.S. government has launched a Sexually Transmitted Infections National Strategic Plan for the United States, to enhance and expand STI prevention and care programs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared in a new report that documented cases of the sexually transmitted diseases chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available. This marks the sixth year in a row that cases have reached record numbers.

An announcement about the report notes that the rate of STDs, also known as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), has skyrocketed in the past two decades.

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“Less than 20 years ago, gonorrhea rates in the U.S. were at historic lows, syphilis was close to elimination, and advances in chlamydia diagnostics made it easier to detect infections,” Raul Romaguera, MPH, acting director of the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC said in the announcement. “That progress has been lost, due in part to challenges to our public health system.”

The report found that there were 2.6 million diagnosed STDs in the U.S. in 2019, compared to about 2.5 million cases in 2018.

“This news isn’t surprising but it’s not the fault of individuals—it represents a larger failure of sexual health education programs in the United States,”Marybec Griffin, PhD, assistant professor in the department of health behavior, society and policy at theRutgers School of Public Health in New Jersey, tells Verywell. Women’s health expertJennifer Wider, MD,agrees, telling Verywell that the data is “not incredibly surprising because the numbers have been consistently climbing over the last five years.”

Here’s what you need to know about the report.

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Health departments across the U.S. reported the following data on STDs, according to the report:

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The CDC notes that antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea cases are on the rise. In 2019, more than half of all gonorrhea infections were estimated to be resistant to at least one antibiotic. “Continued monitoring of susceptibility patterns to antibiotics is critical to inform gonorrhea treatment guidelines,” the report says.

Why STD Cases Are Increasing

The report didn’t address the reasons behind this steady increase, but sexual health experts have some theories.

Lack of Education

Griffin says that a lack of comprehensive sexual health education in middle and high schools across the country may be to blame. “The United States has always lagged behind other countries in the provision of sexual health education and every year we add more adolescents that do not have the education they need to protect themselves and make informed decisions,” she says.

The quality of sexual health education also “varies wildly” in the U.S., Griffin says. “Only 30 states mandate sexual health education that includes HIV prevention information,” she points out. “However, these requirements vary and only 18 of these states require that the information is medically accurate.”

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That, Griffin says, is a big problem: “We cannot expect people to know how to prevent STIs if they do not get information that is relevant to them—meaning that centers sexual pleasure, consent, sexual orientation, and includes medically accurate STI and pregnancy prevention information.”

Taboo Topic

American hesitancy to talk about sex and sexual pleasure is a problem, too, Griffin adds. “So many people don’t know that they need to tell their providers about the types of sex they are having—you absolutely should,” she says. “The types of sex you are having impact the types of STI screenings you should get.”

More Testing

The rise in chlamydia cases may simply be due to more testing,Peter Leone, MD,adjunct associate professor of epidemiology for the Gillings School of Global Public Health and professor of medicine for the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, tells Verywell. “We didn’t always have diagnostic tests for it,” he says. “This is really the trend over the last decade.”

Leone is particularly concerned about the increase in cases of congenital syphilis. “That shouldn’t happen,” he says. “It’s a total failure of the system when we see that.”

Disparities

Certain social and economic conditions, including lack of medical insurance or a consistent and regular healthcare provider, poverty, drug use, and a high burden of STDs within certain communities, are contributing as well, Wider says.

As for the disparities in STD cases, the CDC says it likely reflects different access to quality sexual health care and differences in sexual network characteristics. The organization cites the example of having a greater chance of encountering an STI in communities with a higher prevalence of STIs compared to lower-risk communities, regardless of sexual behavior patterns.

What This Means For YouIf you’re sexually active, talk to your partner about your STD status, and use barrier methods to protect yourself. You should also get tested for STDs regularly.

What This Means For You

If you’re sexually active, talk to your partner about your STD status, and use barrier methods to protect yourself. You should also get tested for STDs regularly.

How to Prevent STDs

The CDC offers some advice for preventing STDs:

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Next Steps

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched aSexually Transmitted Infections National Strategic Plan for the United States, which is a roadmap for public health, government, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders to develop, enhance and expand STI prevention and care programs at the local, state, tribal, and national levels.

STI prevention groups are also utilizingtelehealthoptions and partnerships with pharmacies and retail health clinics to help make testing and prevention services more accessible.

Griffin recommends that people use the skills they’ve learned from navigating the pandemic to talk about STDs. “We’ve all had practice talking about our behaviors, who we are seeing, and what risks we’ve taken as it relates to COVID-19,” she says. “These are the same types of conversations we should be having with our sexual partners about STIs.  Use your new skills to help protect yourself from STIs.”

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1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.National Overview - Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2019. April 13, 2021.

1 Source

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.National Overview - Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2019. April 13, 2021.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.National Overview - Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2019. April 13, 2021.

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